Creative Commons Halloween Mix 2010
Having drained the FMA of CC-licensed spookiness for last year’s Creative Commons Halloween mix, this year I prowled the net-label databases of the internet in search of fresh mp3s. My ears were satiated with an aural smorgasbord of horror film soundtrack tributes and audio collages, eerie theremins, bewitching women, and countless cookie monster voiced death metal front men warning of the impending zombie apocalypse. Click the "i" for more info about the artists and CC licenses. Have fun, and remember to be safe.
Creative Commons Halloween Mix 2011
The FMA returns this year with more legal downloads for the Halloween holiday. This time around we've got some sinister classical favorites, 8bit Dario Argento film scores, Peter Lorre interpreted via twisted circuit benders, and some frighteningly bad tunes from America's premier mass murdering folk troubadour. Be sure to check out the Halloween mixes from 2009 and 2010 for more copylefted Halloween spookiness. Big thanks to the FMA community for all the great suggestions!
Irene's Top Ten for 2010
#1-4 It was good to see Angels in America return this year with some new tracks from Welcome to Miami and E.M.S. and side project Laura Warholic. I missed them on their 2009 tour, but they seem to have gained a higher profile this year performing at Pop Montreal. To preserve their mystery, I prefer not to see them live…well maybe I would, but only if they performed here. I can listen to both bands repeatedly; the songs travel effortlessly like a soothing lubricant for some worn in cerebral groove of obsessive thoughts and creepy, ambivalent desires. They’re weird and desperate and beyond the pale, but still come off as sensitive and tender to me. Please Angels in America, upload more before I start heating up your tapes and mainlining you.
#5-7 Wm. Berger’s My Castle of Quiet reintroduced me to the mind-bending powers of Excepter via several Excepter members who performed on his show this year, including Telecult Powers featuring Lala Ryan, Hex Breaker Quintet, and SSPS. I’m very excited to get started on the Ten Films to Watch Telecult Powers By and check out the hundreds of hours of Excepter’s live streams available here and here. I'm not sure why I need this much Excepter, maybe it's just this lingering suspicion I have that if I listen to them long enough I just might levitate.
#8-9 I discovered a plentiful amount of haunting, experimental music from around the world on the Clinical Archives page here on the FMA as well as much more to be found on their website. Kerim Safa's otherwordly wails particularly stood out. Girilal Baars is somewhat similar but moans in a lower register. I don't know what this guy is saying but he sounds something like an institutionalized Fester Addams or a dying moose...painful!
#10 Found this great theremin album by Turkish electronic musician Meczûp while looking for Halloween tracks for my mix. I can't find out much about this artist, but his Myspace page includes several tracks not found on his album. Hope to hear more soon.
